Passenger aircraft interiors have to comply with very stringent flammability standards relating to all components manufactured for and installed in an aircraft. Thus, for example, vertical walls or large panels such as bulkheads, dividers, galley walls and lavatory walls have to meet FAA and EASA regulations concerning acceptable levels of heat release, smoke emission and generation of toxic fumes, when exposed to heat, to aid safe and speedy evacuation of the aircraft in an emergency. To that end, vertical walls and large panels are typically made from composite boards with a decorative laminate glued on during manufacture.
As the laminate surface is non-porous, dirt can be easily wiped off, but any repair or replacement requires aircraft down time in a hanger and therefore needs to be carried out at a major maintenance check. Sometimes, soft materials, for examples a tapestry, are used but these tend to be located in non-passenger areas at the forward part of the cabin.
Typically, many of the surfaces around an aircraft seat, other than the seat cushions and arm rests, are unyielding and non-permeable. This facilitates cleaning, but can be detrimental to passenger comfort. The advent of lie flat beds in first and business class premium cabins has led to a demand for more soft surfaces to be used in the cabins to improve the passenger experience during flight. This is especially important during night time flying where a passenger lying on a lie flat bed may come into contact with surfaces, such as a headboard, partition or side wall in close proximity to the seat cushions/mattress on which the passenger is lying. It is felt that the use of such soft surfaces improve the passenger experience during flight.
One known approach to providing a soft cover for hard interior surfaces of an aircraft is to bond to the surface a closed cell fluoropolymer foam which itself carries a decorative outer cover.
However, this approach is not practicable for surfaces, such as those around the seat cushions/mattress which frequently come into contact with passengers since those surfaces would require frequent cleaning, and this would be unduly time consuming and expensive.